


Missing

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22209052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: It's Monday morning - and Jim and Blair are missing.
Relationships: Jim Ellison & Blair Sandburg
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	Missing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt 'absence'

Challenge 644 absence

Missing

by Bluewolf

When Simon walked into the bullpen on Monday morning, the first thing he noticed was the absence of his top detective. Now that was odd; although, like Simon himself, Jim officially started work at 8 am, he was often sitting at his desk as much as an hour earlier. Jim was very much an early bird, preferring to start early and get an hour of work in before the rest of his fellow detectives arrived - and then leaving an hour early when the headache he often developed during the day really began to bother him.

Certainly his headaches bothered him less since Blair had joined Major Crime as an observer - an observer whose original 90-day ride along had stretched... and stretched...

He knew that Jim and Blair had gone camping that weekend, and he had been hoping that on their return they would have a fish or two for him. Something must have delayed them.

With a mental sigh - he knew that Jim had plenty of leave time accumulated, and Blair had the next week off - he reached for the top report that the night shift secretary had left in his inbox.

Absent-mindedly, Simon picked up a pen and equally absent-mindedly began to nibble at the end of it as he read. He reached the end of the first page, and stopped, realizing that he had no idea of the content of that page. He was too worried about his absent friends!

He glanced through the slats of the blind that gave him at least the illusion of privacy; everyone else who should be there was.

Maybe they had just been late back, and slept in?

Simon reached for his cell phone and hit the speed dial for Jim's number. The phone rang. And rang. And rang... He hung up, then hit the speed dial for Jim's cell phone.

'The number you are calling is unavailable...' He hung up and tried the speed dial for Blair's cell phone, aware though he was that the student often forgot to charge it.

'The number you are calling is unavailable...' He hung up again.

He thought for a minute, then tried the loft number again.

It rang... and rang...

Simon frowned slightly. Why didn't it roll over to voice mail? They were away for a couple of days... why was the answer phone apparently disconnected?

***

At least it was dry.

Jim and Blair sat on adjacent boulders, gazing out over the valley below them. It would, both knew, take them at least two days to each the nearest road - possibly three; and while both were happy to undertake a long day's hike, this one would be far from pleasant, even though there was a rough track they could follow. This was not a time of year when plants would be producing fruit or nuts, so it would be a hungry two or three days.

Suddenly Jim raised his head.

"Something?" Blair asked.

"Helicopter - Yes! And it's following the line of the track."

Blair still couldn't hear or see anything but he was more than happy to accept Jim's word for it. And if it was following the track, with luck the crew would see them waving since at that moment they were in a clearing, not walking steadily under a canopy of trees. As long as the crew was paying any attention to the ground...

And then Blair heard the steady whump-whump-whump-whump of the approaching helicopter.

As it approached, they both stood and began waving - and yes! the helicopter slowed to a hover, and moments later one of the crew dropped on a rope to join them.

"Detective Ellison?"

"That's me," Jim said.

"You had a problem?"

"There was a landslide," Jim said. "Just after we arrived. Carried away everything - my truck, all our gear, totally destroyed the track for about a third of a mile. We were lucky; we'd decided to go for a short walk to loosen up after the drive here, and we were a little above where the ground slipped. No idea why it went when it did - it's been dry, though - "

"Though if there was an earthquake half a mile underground how would we have known?" Blair put in, making sure that his sometimes less than careful friend wouldn't mention the underground earthquake that he had indeed been aware of. "Any shaking of the ground would have been disguised by the rumbling of the landslide."

The helicopter crewman nodded. "I can see that," he said.

"Anyway, we lost everything," Jim went on. "All we could do was start walking back, knowing it would take us the best part of a week to reach the main road. Did Captain Banks report us missing?"

"I think so. We were certainly given a definite line to follow into the mountains. Anyway, let's get you up to the chopper and back to Cascade."

He fastened Blair to his harness, waved to the pilot and took Blair up, then went back down again for Jim.

***

Back in Cascade, the pair decided to report in to the PD, and get the spare loft key from Simon - they had both lost their house keys along with everything else; Blair could only be happy that he had left the backpack that was his usual companion behind because of their decision to spend the weekend on absolutely leisure pursuits - some walking, some fishing...

Jim wasn't happy about losing his truck, but hoped the insurance would cover its loss.

Nothing else really mattered. They had escaped with their lives, and everything they had lost could be replaced - yes, even the truck.

***

At the PD they were greeted enthusiastically, then went in to see Simon, thank him for getting the SAR chopper sent out, explain that they had switched off the answer phone because they didn't want to return to a lot of junk calls, get the spare loft key, and went home for the rest of the day, glad that Blair had left the Volvo in the PD garage so they wouldn't have to ask anyone to take them home. They did stop on the way to get new keys cut to replace the lost ones.

Once home, Jim phoned their favorite Chinese for a meal, and then they settled down to rest and relax, and recover from their weekend 'break'.

Simon had given them the rest of the week off... so tomorrow, Jim decided, he would go looking for a new truck.


End file.
